Why do southerners have a stronger sense of identity with family clans than northerners?

As far as I know, northerners' concept of clan identity is really not as strong as southerners'. In the south, if two people meet by chance, there may be a conversation when they learn that the other person has the same surname as themselves, asking where the other person is from and whether they are of the same clan. If so, they may make friends like family, and they will contact each other in the future. In the north, among people with the same surname, it is just the same surname. Few people will be curious about each other's native place and the origin of their ancestors. The best they can say is that they were a family 500 years ago. In fact, even the same surname 500 years ago was not necessarily a family. Why do southerners have a stronger clan concept than northerners? This is the national cultural difference caused by different degrees of national migration and integration.

Since ancient times, the Central Plains, located in the north, has been the settlement of the Chinese nation and the birthplace of farming civilization. Farming civilization pays attention to rest, mutual assistance and development, so it has formed the characteristics of gregarious, while nomadic culture outside the Central Plains is the hegemonic thinking of conquering and abusing others. Two different civilizations and different thinking have also led to different national concepts.

In ancient times, the reason was that the climate was mild and the products were rich, which was always peeped by nomadic people. After the nomadic people conquered and unified each other in the Mongolian Plateau or Northeast China, they formed a climate and extended their tentacles to the Central Plains. First, rob people and livestock, provide food and grass for food and clothing, and then push your luck, directly occupy the territory, seize political power, and enslave the Han people. In the nomadic invasions again and again, the Central Plains and North China have become battlefields for hegemony between China and foreign countries and hotbeds for ethnic integration.

In the history of China, the major historical events that led to the great migration and integration of ethnic groups were the Five Wild Flowers in the Western Jin Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Jingkang Revolution in the Northern Song Dynasty and the later Dynasties such as Mengyuan and Manchu. The occurrence of these major events not only changed the national culture, but also changed the national concept, which led to the difference of clan concept.

At historical nodes such as "Five Wild Flowers", "An Shi Rebellion" and "Jing Kang Rebellion", many Han people in the Central Plains moved their ethnic groups to the south in order to protect national security and escape foreign slavery. They have a mentality of being expelled from a foreign country psychologically, so they kept their own cultural genes and formed their later family clan concept. In order to survive, the Han people who did not escape in several historical events chose to surrender or integrate and become one with the nomadic people. Over time, the concept of the former ethnic group gradually faded.

Especially in the Song Dynasty, the whole Song Dynasty was robbed and abused by Liao people, hanged by Jin and trampled by Meng Yuan. After the Ming Dynasty, Manchu rule was first impacted by the Central Plains and North China. At these historical nodes, the Central Plains and North China were almost merged by nomadic people, and the ethnic genes were diversified, which led to the weakening of people's clan concept. One of the most representative examples is Zhang Hongfan, a general in the early Yuan Dynasty. His ancestors were Han Chinese in the Northern Song Dynasty, and his father was Han Chinese in the Jin Dynasty. Zhang Hongfan became a general in the early Yuan Dynasty and personally destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty. As for the northwest region, it has been the starting point of the Silk Road since ancient times and the birthplace of nomadic tribes. Because commerce and trade are developed, there are many nationalities, ethnic integration is earlier, ethnic genes are more complicated, and ethnic concepts are even more diluted than in the south.

In fact, from the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911 to Sun Yat-sen's slogan of "expelling Tatars and restoring China", we can feel that the Han people in the south have always maintained a deficit in the Central Plains. They look to the Central Plains in the north, are attached to China, and strive for the rise of China at any time. This is a cultural gene deeply rooted in the blood. Although the sea has changed, it has been handed down from generation to generation and will never change. Therefore, with the comparison of strong and weak national concepts, there is a distinction between strong and weak clan concepts.